Storm of the Century
by leefert
Summary: A major storm is brewing in the Atlantic and the heroes of the 55 must rush to save a little boy's life.


Storm clouds are moving in over the city. A drizzle of rain falls as the sound of distant thunder nearly drowns out the sirens from the medic unit. Kim carefully guides the rig to a spot in an abandoned warehouse yard, where a child is frantically screaming.

"You gotta help him!" the little boy cries

"Help who?" Grace asks

"Tommy, he's down in the storm drain." The little boy responds as he leads the medics towards the storm drain.

"Adam 55-3 to dispatch, we need additional manpower at this location, we have a child trapped in a storm drain." Kim radios

"Help me!" The boy cries out as he can see his rescuers above him. "I can't get out of here."

"We're going to get you out." Kim assures him, "We're going to get you out."

Grace returns from the bus with a haligan bar.

"Maybe we can pry the grate loose." She says

"It's worth a shot." Kim replies

Grace works the edge under the metal grating and begins to attempt to pry. She quickly shakes her head.

"This isn't going to work." She says as it begins to sprinkle rain.

"Oh this is not good." Kim adds

"Squad 55 respond to assist Adam 55-3 1221 Riverside, person trapped." The alarm box calls

The guys jump up from the table. Taylor is the first dressed and in the rig. Billy starts the engine and begins pulling out the door as the rest of the crew climbs aboard.

"Lieutenant 55 to dispatch, what's the situation?" Lt. Johnson radios

"Child trapped in a storm drain." Dispatch replies

"That's great, child trapped in a storm drain and we're in for the storm of the century." Jimmy says

"New Yorkers need to be taking cover as the strong category 3 Hurricane Alfred is baring down on the city. It's rare for landfall to be made this high up the coast, but this storm has New York and Boston in its sights. Storm surge is expected to reach 8 feet by this evening. Do not take this storm for granted." The reporter says

"Great, just what we need." Bosco says as he turns the station on the radio, "Aren't hurricanes just a bunch of wind and rain anyway? I mean it can't be that bad."

"Bosco, didn't you watch the news after the Gulf Coast got nailed?" Faith asks

"Well yeah but that wasn't one hurricane, it was three." Bosco replies

"One was bad enough!" Faith says

"Why you always gotta be so negative?" Bosco asks

Faith just rolls her eyes and looks out the window.

"What?" Bosco asks

"Nothing." Faith replies

"No, I know that look, you always look that way when you're pissed off or something." Bosco adds

"There is NOTHING wrong." Faith reiterates

"Okay." Bosco says in return.

Davis and Finney pull onto the scene.

"What's going on?" Davis asks as he gets out of the RMP

"There's a little boy trapped in the storm drain." Grace replies, "His friend called us to come help."

"What friend?" Davis asks as he looks around and sees no one else

"He was here a minute ago." Grace responds

"Won't the water level rise with the storm coming in?" Finney asks

"That's what we're afraid of." Grace replies

Finney rushes over and attempts to pull the grate up.

"Hang on buddy, we're gonna get you out." Finney says as he starts looking around.

Another rumble of thunder rolls across the sky and the rain begins to fall a little harder.

"I'm scared!" The little boy cries

"I know, I know buddy but we're gonna get you out of there." Finney tries to calm the boy's fears.

Walsh pulls the engine on scene. The squad climbs out immediately looking to their lieutenant for direction of what to do.

"What have we got?" Lt. Johnson questions

"Boy trapped in a storm drain." Kim replies

"Taylor get the spreaders, Jimmy get the saw." The Lieutenant orders

"Got it Boss." Taylor replies

Walsh leans over the drain. He sees the little boy who is stuck but doesn't appear to be injured.

"What's your name buddy?" Walsh asks

"Tommy." The little boy whimpers

"Well Tommy, my name's Billy. My friends and I are gonna get you out of there okay?" Walsh tries to calm the crying child

"I'm cold." He cries

"I know buddy, that's why we're going to get you out of there." Walsh responds as he passes a blanket down to the little boy. "Wrap yourself up in that, it will help keep you warm."

The water in the storm drain is only a few inches deep, but with the impending storm rolling in, those few inches will turn to a few more inches, then to feet. This operation had to work quickly to avert disaster, everyone knew that. A little boy's life was at stake if the firefighters don't work quickly and efficiently. And this crew was not about to let that happen.

News reporters and a news helicopter start to appear at the scene. Looking up at the helicopter DK quips, "Great just what we need, a helicopter crash on top of it all."

"Hey now, we don't need any of that." Lombardo responds

Boy 55-3 pulls onto the scene of a two-car collision at the intersection of 123 and Lexington. Bosco meets Carlos at the ambulance.

"Two patients, driver of the red car and passenger of the blue." Bosco replies

Faith is talking to the passenger in the car.

"Stay with us you hear?" Faith questions, "Hey!" She attempts to elicit a response by tapping his shoulder. "Carlos! This one's not breathing!"

"Great! Holly call for another bus!" Carlos yells over the sound of the thunder and the heavy rain that is now falling.

"Rain bands." Bosco comments

"Yeah." Levine replies as she takes the radio out, "Boy 55-3 to Central, we need an additional bus at this location."

"He's in respiratory arrest!" Carlos yells

"What can we do?" Faith asks

"Help me get him out of this car." Carlos responds

"Okay. Okay." Faith begins to help Carlos get the man out of the car. "Shouldn't he have a collar on or something?" She asks

"There's no time for that!" Carlos responds

Lightning flashes and a horrendous rumble of thunder crashes through the streets.

"I am not liking this at all!" Holly says as she begins to bag the patient now lying on the sidewalk. "Start CPR."

Bosco walks around and watches the medics work as his partner assists with the CPR.

"V-Fib." Carlos announces as he hooks up the defibulator and looks at the monitor.

The television is on in a darkened room.

"A hurricane warning has now been issued for the Northeast extending along the Jersey coastline all the way up to Maine. Landfall is expected between 10 PM tonight and 1 AM tomorrow morning. I strongly urge that anyone in the potential path of this storm take extreme precautions to protect themselves. There is a mandatory evacuation of the Long Island area, the tunnels into New York have been shut down to prevent anyone from being trapped in rising water." The TV continues.

A man approaches the window and watches the lightning off in the distance. He takes a drink from a glass.

"Great, never in my life would I have figured a hurricane could hit New York City. And never in my life would I have guessed that it would hit on my day off." Sully says

Lombardo works with the saw trying to cut through the heavy grating over the storm drain. "The blade just broke!" Lombardo yells over the sound of the rain and wind pelting the rescuers

"Let me get another one off the truck!" DK says as he runs to the truck. He searches feverishly looking for a new blade. "Shit!" He says in frustration. "We don't have anymore!" He yells

"Great, that's wonderful." Jimmy says frustrated because he knew that once again the other shifts failed to keep the rig supplied, something that his Lieutenant could not tolerate. This crew kept that rig clean enough that you could eat off of the floors inside, but not the other shifts, it was an ongoing battle to keep the rig in excellent condition. After all it was important to have your apparatus in perfect order, lives depended on it and right now it looked like one life could be lost because of it.

"Can we get the spreaders in there and maybe pry it open enough to pull him out?" Lt. Johnson asks

"None of us will be small enough to fit Lieu- not even Taylor, and he's starting to lose it, I don't think he could concentrate enough to hold onto a rope if we lowered it." Walsh replies

The rain is pelting the rescuers. The news crews still anxiously watching. Lieutenant Johnson studies the map he has of the New York Water system. He realizes that if they don't get to the boy soon, he doesn't stand a chance with the impending storm. The cold rain was starting to get to him, so he knew that the boy was in serious danger. He surveyed the scene and then consulted the map.

"Has anyone checked the sewer covers? There's 4 in this area, one of them has got to be attached to the line that he's trapped in." Lt. Johnson tells his crew.

"We could get the rescue guys out here with another blade." Jimmy suggests

"I don't want to bring anyone else out in this. That boy's lost too much time as it is." Lt. Johnson yells over the wind.

Another bolt of lightning finds it's way to the ground, it hits a light pole and the transformer explodes. Lieutenant Johnson is forced to make a heart wrenching decision. He knows that a rescue has to be made, but the rescuers need to be kept as safe as possible- they're no good to anyone if they are injured and cannot do the job. He knows that he needs to minimize losses.

"Kim, Grace, get back in your bus and get out of here. I can't risk losing anyone to this." Lt. Johnson orders

"But that boy will die!" Grace protests

"If we stay out here much longer all of us might. I got Taylor here, leave some supplies and get to somewhere safer!" Lt. Johnson orders them away, "Davis, you and your partner get outta here too, I don't want two dead police officers either."

Lieutenant Johnson was not their supervisor, but Davis had been around long enough to know that what Johnson said was to be taken as an order. He knew that if he failed to obey Lt. Johnson, his own Lieutenant- Lt. Swerksy would be all over him. They had been around long enough to know that it's not just black and blue out there on those streets; cooperation between the groups was key to helping the citizens that they were all there to protect.

"Yes sir." Davis responds as Finney attempts to protest.

The squad had been studying the drainage map intently trying to figure out what they can do and how to do it quickly. Taylor points to something.

"I got it Lieu!" She yells, he walks over. "This cover right here puts us in a pipe that leads directly to this drain."

"This is too risky." Johnson replies

"It's his only hope." Jimmy adds

"It's 3 maybe 400 feet. Lieu we gotta get that kid out of there." Taylor pleads knowing that her superior would agree.

"Only one." Johnson says, "I'm only gonna let one of you go down there. We're gonna get one shot out of this!"

"I'll go." Walsh volunteers immediately for once he wanted to be able to do more than just stand back and watch Jimmy come to the rescue. Everybody on that squad was as good as Doherty, but it seemed that Doherty's face graced the papers because it looked good to the girls who more often than not covered the stories, drove by the station and gawked. And Jimmy knew he was good looking, he often took every opportunity to flaunt his looks to the world. For once it was somebody else's turn to be that hero.

Lieutenant Johnson nods in acknowledgement as the crew prepared the harness to send Walsh into the rescue. Just then another bolt of lighting sizzles down through the sky and strikes the news helicopter hovering near the scene. They watch in horror as it falls to the ground sending shrapnel through the air, they all dive for cover.

"Charging to 200." Carlos announces

"Is that really such a good idea?" Bosco questions

"Do you have a better one?" Carlos yells out. "Clear!"

Carlos checks quickly to make sure that everyone is clear of the patient. He presses the shock button and they watch as a bolt of electricity arcs between the paddles.

"We gotta get him in the bus and get going." Holly says

"Keep bagging." Carlos orders as he rushes for the cot. "Okay, let's get him to the bus!"

They load the patient into the ambulance and begin on their way to Mercy. It's a lot easier to work a cardiac arrest when your hands don't slip off of the patient's body because it is so wet. And it is a definite plus when the pads will stick to the patient.

The television flickers in the room. And finally goes out, all of the clocks go dark, the electricity goes out.

"Crap!" Sully says dryly as he searches for a flashlight. The lighting flashes to brighten up the room. This instant of light makes it easier for Sully to search the room.

"Found it." Sully announces to the air

The metal debris from the helicopter spreads around the scene. The propellers shear off as they hit the ground. The helicopter becomes merely a fireball as it hits the ground.

"Ah!" Taylor screams in pain

"Alex!" Jimmy yells as he scrambles to her side, "where are you hurt?"

"It just grazed me, I'll be okay." Taylor is grabbing her arm.

Lieutenant Johnson takes a look.

"That looks pretty bad Taylor." Lt Johnson says but as he prepares to call for them, Kim and Grace come rushing over

"Thought I told you to get out of here!" Lt Johnson questions, he knew Kim well enough to know that she wasn't going to stray far. And Grace would be sure to stay put as well. Everyone in his house was stubborn when it came to their friends, and this group was more of a family.

"We did, but we heard the crash and saw the flames and came back." Kim responds

"Good! Taylor's hurt." Johnson replies

Taylor leans against the side of the squad holding pressure to her arm. Grace approaches and looks, "That's pretty deep." She pulls out a couple kravats and creates a sling to hold Taylor's arm still.

No one notices that in the confusion Walsh and DK had slipped away. They were determined to get the boy out alive.

"Stay safe brother." DK tells Walsh before lowering him into the drain

"I will." Walsh replies

The water is almost up to his waist and beginning to move swiftly. Walsh makes his way carefully through the tunnel.

"Tommy." He calls out, "Tommy, can you hear me?"

"Where's Billy?" Jimmy asks as he looks around the scene. He couldn't find his friend anywhere.

"I dunno." Lombardo replies, "DK's gone too."

They head back to the drain. Jimmy leans down to pear into the hole. They knew that Walsh was on his way to rescue the boy.

"Tommy, Tommy buddy talk to us." Jimmy pleads with the boy

The water level is rising quickly and Tommy is barely above the water level. The hard rain was not helping make this rescue any easier.

"Tommy, talk to me!" Jimmy screams at the boy trying to get his attention. He realizes that the boy is in serious trouble. "Billy, hurry up!" He screams back the tunnel.

The doors to the ER open and Carlos and Holly are wheeling the cot in the doors of Mercy.

"46 year old male involved in an MVC, arrested in the vehicle, CPR performed in route." Carlos rattles off to the nurses

"Trauma 1." Doctor Fields instructs as they enter the trauma room. "How long's he been down?"

"Approximately 30 minutes, witnessed arrest." Carlos answers just before he leaves the room.

Dr. Fields shakes his head; "I'm calling it, time of death 2113." The alarms are silenced

"You look like a drowned rat." Mary Proctor chimes in

"There is a hurricane out there you know." Levine responds

"Yeah, I know." Mary replies dryly.

Walsh sees the light that Jimmy is shining down on the boy; the water is nearly at his chest now. Walsh can't see the boy though.

"Tommy." He calls as he approaches, "Jimmy I can't see him." He yells

"Billy, he went under." Jimmy calls

"Alright, I'm almost there." Walsh responds, he bends down and begins feeling under the water trying to find the boy.

"We should get you to the hospital." Kim tells Alex in the back of the bus

"I'm not going anywhere until that boy is safe with us." She argues

"Okay, then can we at least get you out of that wet gear, the back of the bus smells really bad." Grace asks as Taylor just looks at her. Kim gives Taylor a blanket to wrap up in after they get her wet gear off.

"This is turning out to be one hell of a night." Taylor says

"You can say that again." Kim replies. "At least we're in the safety and warmth of the bus. Wow I never thought I'd hear myself saying that."

"Yeah but I'd rather be out there helping them get that boy to safety." Taylor responds.

"They'll find him." Kim assures

It was nearly impossible to see anything in the drain. The lights were fading and so was the chance of saving the boy. The water was now chest deep on Walsh. He dove down to try to find the boy. Finally he felt a foot and traced it back up to find the boy. He pulled him to the surface.

"I got him!" He yelled, "But he's not breathing!" Billy gives a couple quick rescue breaths and hurries back to his entry point. "Come on buddy, hold on."

Jimmy turns around.

"Billy's got him!" He yells to the group. They rush for the opening that DK is seated at pulling on the rope that is attached to his friend. Kim and Grace rush over with a backboard and the cot, ready to take the boy and get him moving. Taylor stands above and watches as the boy is pushed up through the hole.

"He's got a weak pulse." Grace announces to the group as she begins to work on him.

Finally Walsh immerges from the hole. They quickly wrap him in a blanket as he takes a few deep breaths.

"Let's go!" Kim says. "He needs to be at the hospital now!"

"Billy, you need to go too." Lt. Johnson orders.

Jimmy closes the back doors to the rig and rounds it to the front. He climbs in the driver's seat.

"You ready?" He asks

"Go!" Kim yells

"Here, this is all they had." Carlos tosses Faith and Bosco each a pair of scrubs to change into

"Hardly duty gear." Bosco replies

"If you want to stay in those wet clothes then give 'um back." Carlos says

"Nah, there's a definite plus to having dry clothes." Faith says as she attempts to towel dry her hair.

"Tell me about it." Holly adds

"So is he gonna make it?" Faith asks

"Nah, he's been down too long." Carlos responds, but he knew that they had already pronounced the patient, but he wanted to make the officers feel like they did a little to help. Nurse Proctor walks into the lounge.

"Nieto, we need you to move your bus, got another trauma coming in." She says

"10 year old boy, found in a storm drain. Unconscious, unresponsive. Arrested in the bus. Downtime, 10 minutes." Grace is reporting to the staff as Kim continues to do chest compressions

"Alright people lets move!" Doctor Fields orders, "Epi and Adenosine, stat. Charging to 300, clear"

"We have a rhythm." Proctor announces

"Good work." Doctor Fields acknowledges the medics

Mary walks up to Taylor and Walsh who are each wrapped in blankets, Walsh is shivering. They are watching intently. Neither of them wants to move.

"Trauma 2." She points to Taylor, then points to Walsh, "3." Each goes off to their assigned areas.

Davis and Finney walk into the ER.

"How are they?" Davis asks

"They're all okay." Kim replies

"That was something." Finney says to Grace

"Yeah, if you'll excuse me a minute so that I can go change." Grace says

"Sure." Finney replies

"Why don't you just ask her out?" Davis asks his partner

"I'm trying to." Finney replies

"Try harder." Kim cracks

"Any news from the hospital yet?" DK asks it felt good to have been back and changed into dry clothes. They are all sitting around the table.

"The boy pulled through." Lieutenant Johnson replies as he walks into the room to get a new cup of coffee.

"Good." DK smiles

"How 'bout Taylor and Walsh?" Lombardo asks

"Keeping both overnight for observation." Lt. Johnson responds

"Good. They can stay in out of the rain." Lombardo grins

"You all did good tonight." Lt. Johnson adds

Taylor and Walsh have been moved upstairs, just down the hall from each other. Kim walks up to check on her friends.

"Hey, how you feeling?" Kim asks as she walks into Taylor's room

"I've been a lot better." Taylor replies, "This thing is like wearing Fort Knox."

"The boys sent something in for you." Kim grins as she holds up a small part of the propeller, "This is yours."

"Yeah, we've met." Taylor cracks, "How's Billy?"

"He's okay, they're trying to re-warm him, that water was cold even for June." Kim says

"Yeah." Taylor replies obviously drowsy from the pain medicine

"I'm going to let you get some rest." Kim says, "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Thanks." Taylor replies as Kim walks out of the room. She can't sit still in a hospital room. She remembered all too well what it was like after her trip to the hospital when she was hit by a car on the bridge. The last place she wanted to be was lying in a hospital bed because it made her feel weak. There was nothing that she could have done to prevent her injury from the car, and certainly nothing she could have done this time short of not being on the call. Taylor then gets up and walks to Walsh's room.

"Hey." She says, "How's the man of the hour?"

"I'm thawing out." He replies with a grin. He was still cold, and he would be for a while. They wanted to be sure that he would be all right.

"That's good to know." Taylor cracks

"So what did happen to your arm?" Walsh asks

"Part of the helicopter hit me." Taylor replies

"I guess you forgot to duck." Walsh jokes

"Yeah something like that." Taylor grins

"Sorry that I wasn't there." Walsh adds

"You were exactly where you needed to be, off rescuing that boy. If it weren't for you that boy wouldn't be downstairs recovering." Taylor makes sure she points out the fact to him. "You know, right now I am so cold and hungry that I could even stand Carlos's coffee."

"You must be really desperate." Walsh laughs a little too loudly

The nurse walks in, "You two really need to get some rest."

"Yeah, yeah." Taylor responds as she turns to leave.

"Hey Alex, I'm glad you came to check on me." Walsh smiles

"Me too." She responds, "Good night Billy."

Finney walks up to Grace with a cup of coffee in each hand

"Thought you could use this." He smiles as he hands a cup to her

"Thanks." Grace replies as she takes it

"So I was thinking, would you like to go out for dinner or something?" He asks

"I'd like that." She replies

"Great. Tomorrow night?" He asks

"Sure." She replies

He grins. "It's a date then. I mean, if there's a city left after this storm."

"Yo Finney! Let's go they want all units back at the house." Davis calls

"Okay." He replies, "I'll call you tomorrow."

"I'll be waiting." Grace says coyly as Finney walks out the door.

The storm calms a bit. Obviously the eye wall is passing over. The electricity has restored itself to Sully's apartment. He begins to make a sandwich as the lights go out again.

"Crap!"


End file.
